MERODACH-BALADAN mĭ rō’ dăk băl’ ə dən (מְרֹדַ֣כְ ֠בַּלְאֲדָן, “Marduk has given a son”).

A Babylonian king called Berodach-baladan in the KJV and ASV (2 Kings 20:12). He reigned from 721-710 b.c. and also for about nine months in 703 b.c. He sent an embassy to Hezekiah (2 Kings 20:12; Isa 39:1), ostensibly to bear a present to the sick king, but prob. the real reason was to encourage revolt against Assyria. The prophet Isaiah opposed and frustrated this plan, and the Babylonians themselves forestalled this plot by setting up Marduk-zākiršumi in 703 b.c.

He claimed descent from Eriba-Marduk, king of Babylon c. 800 b.c. and was first mentioned in the inscrs. of Tiglath-pileser III. When this king entered Babylon in 731 b.c., Merodach-baladan brought gifts to him and supported the Assyrians. Under the rule of the Assyrian king Sargon II, Merodach-baladan entered Babylon and succeeded in making himself king of Babylon. Although the Assyrians reacted, Merodach-baladan stayed on the throne until 710 b.c. when Sargon entered Babylon unopposed. Even then, he remained as local ruler and did not oppose Sargon during the rest of his reign. After the death of Sargon, Merodach-baladan again revolted, and when Sennacherib seized Babylon, he retreated to his homeland. Sennacherib defeated the rebels and entered Babylon where he placed Bel-ibni on the throne. Eventually this throne was occupied by Sennacherib’s son Ashur-nadin-shumi. When Sennacherib attacked the coastal cities of Elam, where Merodach-baladan had fled, no mention was made of him, but his son Nabushumishkun was taken prisoner by Sennacherib in the battle of Halulê. Merodach-baladan died in Elam before Sennacherib entered the area in 694 b.c. This Babylonian king is remembered as a clever and ambitious ruler who bitterly opposed the influence of Assyria in Babylon.

Bibliography G. Roux, Ancient Iraq (1964), 258-266.